1. Field of the Invention
The field of the present invention relates to mounting clips and decorative mounting articles configured to mount onto a rain gutter downspout or other comparable mounting surface.
2. Background
Homeowners frequently mount various types of items onto the exterior of a building structure, including security lights, decorative lights, flags, and seasonal decorations. Many times, however, these items are not easily mounted onto building exteriors. Security lights, for example, are usually mounted onto exterior corners of buildings, using screws and specially designed mounting brackets. Decorative lights are often mounted with hook-type attachments, which are nailed or screwed into the building exterior or joined to horizontally disposed rain gutters. Flag mounts and other types of seasonal decorations are similarly mounted to building exteriors, using special attachments which are screwed or nailed into place.
Unfortunately, when lights, flags, decorations, and other mountable elements are not in use, the mounting devices used to attach these lights and decorations are left behind, potentially decreasing the aesthetic value of the building. In addition, when these mounting devices and their respective fastening elements are removed, damage made during installation is revealed. Depending on the material of the building structure, after removal of these elements, scratches, holes, cracks, rips, and tears in building exteriors are apparent. Besides negatively affecting the aesthetic appearance of building exteriors, the resulting damage may also provide entry sites for insects, water, wind, and dirt.
Various types of solutions have been proposed to attach lights, flags, decorations and other types of mountable elements to building exteriors. However, few solutions allow for attachment to a building structure without penetrating the structure's exterior. Moreover, few, if any, of these proposed solutions have considering attaching mountable elements, such as lights and decorations to rain gutter downspouts and other comparable vertically disposed mounting surfaces.
Downspouts, which are also commonly known as waterspouts, down pipes, drain spouts, and drain pipes, are vertically positioned conduits which are coupled to horizontally positioned gutters to carrying rainwater from a gutter to ground level. Downspouts primarily direct water away from a building's foundation. By using downspouts, water may be directed to a sewer, rain collection area, or to the ground at a distance from a building foundation. Downspouts generally are positioned vertically against exterior building walls, and typically are coupled to building exteriors using straps positioned at various points along the vertical length of the downspout. Although some proposed solutions have considered clip-type attachments for decorative lights to horizontally-positioned gutters disposed along a roofline, these attachments are not adaptable to the shape and configuration of downspouts and other comparable vertically disposed mounting surfaces.
For these reasons, among others, there is a clear need for improved mounting clips used to mount lights, decorations, and other types of mountable elements. Moreover, a need exists for decorative mounting articles that may be attached to downspout and comparable vertically disposed mounting surfaces without the use of fastening elements. More particularly, a need exists for mounting clips that may be installed and removed repeatedly without causing significant harm to the supporting structure. The present invention fulfills these needs and provides further related advantages, as described in the following summary.